If you asked my wife about her favorite songs (which, as with Friday, are the property of the current copyright-holders), she would mention two. First, from the 1970s, Mr. Loaf:
(There is a story about the singer accompanying Mr. Loaf: Her name is Karla DeVito, but her voice is Ellen Foley, Markie Post’s predecessor on the 1980s sitcom “Night Court.”)
Shortly thereafter, a Canadian group, the Kings (which got about as much airplay as Lighthouse thanks to those Canadian domestic content laws), released this two-part song:
Actually, my former assistant should be doing this since she is an actual DJ. (Contact her if you’re looking for one.) She one day mentioned an unusual guilty pleasure for someone who I believe was born after this song, part of a musical that played in the U.K. for three years and in the U.S. for two months, was released:
Finally, two birthdays today: Guitarist Dave Hill of the Climax Blues Band, which …
… and guitarist Pick Withers of Dire Straits, which did this at our wedding:
Not many listeners of Rush Limbaugh know that his original radio idea was to combine rock music with conservative political thought. I don’t know where that would fit in radio today (and if a radio exec thinks it does, contact me ASAP), but it would be a fun idea particularly for a right-wing fan of rock music, irrespective of rock’s usual politics — (insert deep announcer voice here) rock and roll … and the right.
So I thought I would occasionally post some music (which, of course, is the property of the copyright-holder(s)), assuming those who post the music allow it to be posted. (And if not, you’ll get a big black box and a message about that.)
My two favorite songs are from the rare sector of music that I call “brass rock” — rock bands with horn sections, including Chicago (minus the sappy ballads), Blood Sweat & Tears, the Ides of March, Tower of Power, and others.
Readers of my previous blog know how enthralled I was when Chicago played the EAA AirVenture last July. My uncle once played Chicago’s 16-minute-long “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon” (including “Make Me Smile” and “Colour My World”) at ear-splitting levels in his house for me, and I was hooked from then on.
“Make Me Smile,” from Chicago’s second album, “Chicago II,” turned out to be their first AM top 40 radio song. That album also produced my kids’ favorite of theirs, “25 or 6 to 4,” a song about … writing a song:
Song number three is from a Canadian group, Lighthouse, which (as with most Canadian groups) was much more famous north of the border than here. (For one reason, Canadian broadcasting includes local-content requirements, which would never fly in a country that had the First Amendment.) “One Fine Morning” got to number 24 (probably in its inferior shortened version) on the Billboard Hot 100.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 